The Madras campus of the Indian Institute of Technology has started a new project where it will be running some electric buses on its campus as part of a pilot programme.

The institute has partnered up with the Hitachi ABB Power Grids and automobile company Ashok Leyland to build the electric buses. The buses will be a step in the right direction to provide pollution-less transportation and the institute hopes to be able to build sustainable transport system as well.

Ashok Leyland will be responsible for building the buses which will be using ABB Power Grid’s flash-charging technology. The buses will be operating on the campus and IIT will be instrumental in providing the required infrastructure for the system to work.

Experts say the flash-charging system will help to charge the vehicles’ batteries when passengers are getting on and off them. The system also is effective in reducing the need to charge them every few hours in case there is a lack of charging facility.

N Saravanan, Chief Technology Officer at Ashok Leyland was reported as saying, “The alliance would help the company stay at the forefront of embedding innovative and indigenous technologies to nurture the smart e-mobility ecosystem in the country. This latest alliance will further help us stay at the forefront of embedding innovative and indigenous technologies to nurture the smart e-mobility ecosystem in India.”

In recent times, the Indian government has encouraged the idea of electric vehicles and aims to raise their numbers by at least 30 percent in the next 10 years. The public sector transport system is expected to use the most of the electric vehicles.

The problem with electric buses functioning is the fact that that the driving range and passenger carrying capacity is reduced significantly with the existing technology of EVs available. As such, the project is aimed at increasing the use of a flash-charging system, which will be effective in solving the problem, and also reduce the amount of pollution due to vehicles.